ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · MELROSE, MA · 2022
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/melrose/2022-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
257 CRASHES IN
MELROSE, MA
2022
In Melrose, total traffic crashes increased from 242 in 2021 to 257 in 2022, a 6.2% rise. While total fatalities remained stable at two, the number of injuries rose from 56 to 61. The most significant year-over-year shift was in contributing factors, where crashes attributed to distracted driving increased from 4 to 13 incidents.
257
▲ 6.2%was 242
Total Crash Events
2
Persons Killed
61
▲ 8.9%was 56
Persons Injured
15
▲ 36.4%was 11
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (2) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (2) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 14 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall crash trends in Melrose show a slight increase year-over-year. Total crashes rose by 6.2% from 242 to 257, and the number of people injured increased by 8.9% from 56 to 61. The number of fatalities was unchanged, with two individuals killed in traffic incidents in both 2021 and 2022.
15
Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2022
▲ 36.4% vs prior (11)
Hit-and-run incidents increased in both count and as a proportion of total crashes. The number of hit-and-run crashes rose from 11 in 2021 to 15 in 2022. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate increased from 4.5% to 5.8% of all crashes, indicating an upward trend for this crash type.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
2
Motorists Killed
6
Pedestrians Injured
3
Cyclists Injured
52
Motorists Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The timing of crashes shifted between the two periods. In 2022, the peak day for crashes was Tuesday with 44 incidents, and the peak hour was 4 p.m. with 30 crashes. This contrasts with 2021, when the peak day was Thursday (40 crashes) and the peak hour was earlier in the day at 1 p.m. (22 crashes).
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Crash severity profiles were largely consistent year-over-year, though the proportion of crashes involving an injury saw a small increase. The number of fatal crashes remained unchanged at two, with the fatal crash rate per 100 crashes decreasing slightly from 0.83 to 0.78. The count of crashes resulting in serious injuries increased from 4 to 5, while minor injury crashes rose from 27 to 30.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
While "No improper driving" remained the most common finding in both years, its count decreased from 86 to 82. "Failed to yield right of way" was the top specific contributing factor in both periods, with 18 crashes each year. Notably, the count of crashes involving distraction more than tripled, rising from 4 in 2021 to 13 in 2022, a 225% increase in count. Conversely, crashes attributed to erratic or reckless driving decreased from 11 to 7 incidents.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
The conditions under which crashes occurred remained broadly similar between 2021 and 2022. In both years, the majority of incidents happened in daylight (71.9% in 2021 vs. 69.6% in 2022) and on dry roads (79.3% in 2021 vs. 77.4% in 2022). One notable change was in weather conditions, where the number of crashes occurring in snow increased from 4 in 2021 to 12 in 2022.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The vehicle makes most frequently involved in crashes saw a shift in ranking. Toyota became the most common make in 2022 with 88 vehicles, up from 67 in 2021, overtaking Honda, which decreased from 69 to 65 vehicles. Regarding driver age, the 26-34 age group remained the largest cohort involved in crashes in both years. However, the number of persons in the 45-54 age group increased from 69 to 86 year-over-year.
Top Vehicle Makes (488 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
65 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (508 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
Crashes remained concentrated in 25 MPH zones, with the count in these zones increasing from 180 in 2021 to 195 in 2022. The location of fatal crashes shifted between speed zones. In 2021, both fatal crashes occurred in 25 MPH zones. In 2022, one of the two fatal crashes occurred in a 30 MPH zone, while the other's speed zone was not specified.
Fatal crashes by zone: 30 mph: 1 of 13 (7.692%)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), accessed programmatically via the Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2022-01-01 through 2022-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: MELROSE, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 257
- Total persons involved: 576
- Total vehicles involved: 488
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "MELROSE, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2022." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/melrose/2022-annual-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2022-01-01 – 2022-12-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved